Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Moscow. He graduated in 1921 with a degree in
social sciences from the University of Kazan and
with a degree in medicine from the First Moscow
Medical Institute in 1937. Luria's first important
contributions were in the areas of child psychol-
ogy. From 1924 to 1934, he collaborated with the
eminent psychologist Lev Vygotsky in investigat-
ing the thought, speech, and play of children,
and in devising educational and therapeutic
methods for helping disturbed children. In 1932,
his first major work, The Nature of Human Conflicts,
was published in English. After Vygotsky's death
in 1934, Luria turned to neuropsychology, con-
centrating initially on the impairment of speech
through brain lesions; his important research in
this area was published in Travmaticheskaya afaziia
(Traumatic aphasia) (1947). During World War
II, he developed novel methods of restoring the
psychological functions of patients suffering from
head injuries. His work was widely acclaimed in
1962 when he applied those methods in the
astonishingly successful rehabilitation of the cel-
ebrated Soviet physicist Lev LANDAU , who had
sustained severe and seemingly irreversible brain
damage in a car crash. Luria's most original and
influential research centered on the psychological
effects of localized brain tumors; the findings are
presented in his monumental Higher Cortical Func-
tions of Man (1962). Luria's influence extended
beyond the borders of the Soviet Union, and most
of his major works have been translated into
English. His most widely read book in English is
perhaps The Mind of the Mnemonist (1968), a case
study of a man with virtually unlimited powers of
memory. He died in Moscow on August 14, 1977.
In 1893 he resigned his post and returned to
Popovka, the family estate in Tula, where he
joined the local ZEMSTVO , one of the district and
provincial assemblies that had been established
during the GREAT REFORMS , and became one of its
leaders. Lvov gained some recognition for his
organizing relief work for wounded soldiers dur-
ing the RUSSO - JAPANESE WAR (1904-05). In 1905
he joined the Kadet (Constitutional Democratic)
Party and the following year was elected to the
short-lived first DUMA that had been established
during the 1905 Revolution. Lvov was again in
the public eye during World War I as chairman
of the All-Russian Union of Zemstvos and the
Union of Zemstvos and Towns, both of which
were voluntary associations that tried to assist
the war effort by organizing supplies for the
army and relief for the wounded. Chosen to
head the Provisional Government as prime min-
ister and minister of the interior following the
abdication of Czar Nicholas, Lvov was overshad-
owed by more forceful personalities such as
Pavel MILIUKOV and Aleksandr KERENSKY .On
July 7 [July 20], following the anti-government
demonstrations of the JULY DAYS , Lvov resigned
his posts, allowing Kerensky to become prime
minister. Soon after the OCTOBER REVOLUTION he
was arrested on charges of counterrevolutionary
activity by the Cheka in Ekaterinburg and
released after three months. Fleeing eastward
through Siberia, he traveled to the United States
in November 1918 to plead for American inter-
vention in the Russian civil war. In exile in Paris,
Lvov played an active role in the Russian émigré
community, particularly in supporting refugees
and victims of the 1921 famine. Shortly before
his death in Paris in March 1925, Lvov recon-
ciled himself with the Soviet government.
Lvov, Georgii Yevgenevich (1861-1925)
statesman
A reformer from a princely aristocratic family,
Lvov was the first head of the Provisional Gov-
ernment following the abdication of Czar
NICHOLAS II in March 1917. Lvov was born in the
province of Tula, about 100 miles south of
Moscow. He graduated from Moscow University
with a law degree and entered the civil service.
Lysenko, Trofim Denisovich
(1898-1976)
agronomist
The spokesman for highly unconventional theo-
ries of biological inheritance, Lysenko became the
vehicle for a vicious ideological campaign against
Search WWH ::




Custom Search